Hunter had his second race at NTK this past Saturday. He did great!! We got there just in time for him to do a couple of controlled practices and then hit the drivers meeting.
During the meeting, the race director called out the group starting order, in which Kid Karts are always Group 1 in each heat (3 heats total). But this time, he also called a Group 11 Kid Kart class, this one being for the Red River Regional Shootout Series. This is a series of races between NTK and the Tulsa, OK, track. After talking to a few dads, I went ahead and got Hunter signed up for the Shootout, even though we won't make the Tulsa races - well, one may be doable for us. With this entry, this meant Hunter would be running 6 total heats - and he was thrilled with that.
We ran the first regular club heat and he was outstanding!! A young little lady from Tulsa ran away with the race, but our four local boys stuck together in a tight little pack making a good race. It was great right up until the end when Hunter spun out and lost a little time, but he still finished strong running 55 second laps! This is a great improvement from his 1st race.
Then we were called up for the RRR Shootout Heat 1, and Hunter moved up to 3rd place within 2 laps of that heat, then it started raining. Red flag came out and we moved the kids into the tech barn to see if the rain would pass. It did and then they got to roll back out to the track to have a rolling restart - Big Guy style!
Then came heat 2 of the the regular club race and Hunter was passing kids and doing great. But we noticed that he seemed to be losing steam, so to speak. After he was done, we ran back the the truck to check out the kart, but since Scott (Dad) wasn't there yet due to Easter services at church, we didn't know what really to look for (Mom and Cousin Carl were pit crew for Hunter last night).
Finally, the rain really started to pour and NTK canceled the races altogether. So we cleaned everything up, loaded up and went to the tech barn for the awards. Hunter came out with 2 blue ribbons last night since he was running 2 races (all Kid Karts are awarded first place).
After we got the kart home and Dad was able to look at it, it was discovered that the spark plug had wiggled loose and that was causing him to lose power. Good thing the races were canceled when they were. I wouldn't have known to look for that and he would have stalled on the track.
Next race is May 2nd! Hunter is ready and waiting!!
We are so proud of you Hunter, and are cheering (right here at home) every time you race.
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